My hair was stuck at shoulder length for the longest till i finally passed it : Now my hair is all the way to my bra strap! I made this to help a sista out! Now that we've got that out of the way, let's continue! Here i was sitting and thinking of my next great hairstyle! What better than braids hairstyles!

I mean look at this style! Love it! When you reach around the back of your head, twist the two sections around again and weave a bobby pin through to secure the braid to the back of your head. As youre not really adding in any hair to this braid other than the two original sections, make sure you take a large enough section to twist.

If the section is too small, you wont be able to see the twist through your hair.

On the left side of your head, keep twisting and adding sections to fall through the twist. When you reach the back of your head where the right braid finishes, add one more section through, twist together and pin in place underneath. When you pin the hair at the back of your head, you may want to just tease the hair a little and weave the bobby pin through so that it holds.

Start by making a part from a deep side part on the right diagonally across the back of your head to the left side of your neck. Clip away the right section so that its out of the way.

Take a one inch section on the left side of the part and split into three. Start to braid underneath to form a Dutch Braid following your hairline but only add in sections from along the part line, not from your hairline. Angle the braid as close as possible to your hairline. Keep the Dutch braid going all the way round adding in sections from the crown of your head. When you reach your neck, finish in a regular braid and secure with a clear elastic.

Repeat this Dutch braid on the other section on the other side of your part.

Starting on the left hand side, braid all the way around your hairline. Stretch the braids out to make them appear thicker and so that they sit right on your hairline. This style is great if you dont like to show your ears as you can pull this style right forward to sit over the top of them.

To finish the braid, pin the braids up and tuck the ends in under the opposite braid. This type of crown braid is perfect for very long hair; the regular braid that you finish with will be very long and you can pin this all the way round to create a double crown.

Start by brushing all your hair and making a deep side part on the right.

Take a large section just above your right ear and split into three. Form a Dutch braid braiding underneath and only adding in hair from your lower hairline. Brush the hair through under the braid and as you add in the sections on the underside. Make the braid as large as possible to get the best effect with this look. Braid all the way along your lower hairline to your left hand side and finish in a regular braid.

Twist the braid up and around to form a small bun on the left side of the nape of your neck. Stretch the main braid out by pulling it down in your hair. This way youll hide the actual shape of the braid and it will appear to look more like a twist than a regular braid. Remember, stretching it out and pulling the top of the braid downwards will create the twist.

If you hair is very long, you can just leave this in a side braid or finish in a side ponytail. If you dont want to leave your fringe or bangs out, you can also twist them back and pin them in place on the left hand side. Start by taking a section of hair behind your right ear and splitting it into three and do a Dutch braid along your lower hairline.

This is my secret for catching all my layers that always fall out of side braid styles. A simple twist braid will help catch any short layers on this side and stop them falling out during the day. Once you get to your left side, comb all your hair together and secure with a clear elastic. Split the ponytail into two and start to fish-braid full instructions for the fishtail braid are on page Think of the fishtail braid as two ponytails that you change a little piece of hair across to each side but always keeping one ponytail in each hand.

Dont worry about being too neat with a fishtail. The messier the better. Once youve braided all the ponytail, secure the end with a small clear elastic. Then, with a pair of scissors, very carefully cut out the original elastic at the top on the ponytail.

Stretch the fishtail braid out, pulling it slightly to make it sit flat. The clear elastic at the top is a great way to hold your hair together while youre braiding as you become more practiced, you may be able to skip this step. Did you know Im actually wearing extensions for this hairstyle? My hair isnt quite long enough to reach a side braid, so Im wearing clip-in hair extensions. I have inexpensive synthetic ones, but you can also download human hair extensions that you can colour-match and heat style to match your own hair perfectly.

Start by making a loose part down the centre of your hair. Clip the left side out of the way. Starting just above your right ear, form a Dutch braid that runs just along the hairline behind your right ear and finish in a regular braid. Repeat on the left hand side section.

Dont forget to stretch out your braids. This is key to helping this style. It will make the hair look thicker and prettier in these twisted styles. Take the left side section first and twist around. Twist anticlockwise, tucking the ends of the braid under and pinning in place. Repeat on the right hand side, but twist the braid clockwise before tucking and pinning in place. You may want to place a couple of pins between the two braids to make them sit flat. Ive left mine out, but you can just pull all your hair back for this upstyle.

If your hair is very long your could wind your hair in a figure-8 shape to make a beautiful braided upstyle. Part your hair and starting on the right hand side, you want to make three sections and start to form a waterfall braid full instructions on how to do a waterfall braid are on page The difference with this waterfall braid is that you want to angle it diagonally from the top right of your head down towards the lower left side.

This style looks great with larger sections as I have shown or you could do a very fine waterfall braid across as well. Once youve reached the lower left side, pull your hair into a ponytail but leave the waterfall sections loose.

Gently scoop up the waterfall sections and twist them into the ponytail. You want to leave the waterfall sections a little bit loose so it looks like theyre curling under. With the shorter layers on the first few waterfall sections, Ive used bobby pins to secure them in place as they wouldnt reach the ponytail on my hair. Gently tease or backcomb the ponytail and pin into a messy bun. You can stretch out your waterfall braid and pull it down to make it look more diagonal.

If your hair is very long, you can also braid the ponytail and pin it round into a braided bun. This style also works really well in short hair and you can either just do a short ponytail or fold the ends over into a small chignon. The Dutch ring braid begins above your right ear and goes across the top of your head on your hairline all the way around to finish behind your right ear. Start by brushing all your hair through. Split a large section above your right ear into three and start to braid underneath to form a Dutch braid.

You want to pull your hair up and across your head and keep adding in sections from both sides of the Dutch braid from your hairline and from the crown of your head. Angle the braid low along your hairline over your ear. Tip - where to place your hands: I keep my left hand coming around the front, following around the edge of my face.

My right hand goes around the top and from the back of my head. As I curve the braid around the back of my head, my hands follow a natural line and stay on the left and right sides of the braid. Once you reach the nape of your neck, youll probably find that youve incorporated all of your hair by this point.

Finish in a regular braid and secure the end with an elastic. Stretch out the braid and then pin the end of it up, tucking the ends in underneath. Mine pins from the top of my head and almost reaches around back to the start. If your hair is longer, youll be able to have a longer crown, almost a double crown, and just tuck the ends under the braid to hide them. Ive used a large rectangular scarf for this style. If you have a square scarf, fold on the diagonal into about a two-inch wide piece to make this work.

Start by placing the scarf around the back of your neck, bringing it up like a headband. Twist it round to for a turban style knot. Bring the ends of your scarf down on either side and make sure theyre about the same length as your hair. Loosely part your hair in two and secure one side with a hair elastic so you can keep the tension in the scarf and so that the knot wont move as you do the first braid. The scarf will form one of the three sections of the regular braid. Split the rest of your hair into two and use the scarf as the centre section.

Then just do a regular braid. Repeat on the other side and secure with a clear elastic. If your hair is very long, you may not need to put the scarf around the back of your head to do the first headband piece.

You could just tie a turban style knot in the centre and have the scarf trail down on either side as part of the pigtails. This style looks gorgeous with the braids pinned up behind. Fold the braid up, tucking the ends under and pin in place. Pin the second braid over the top of the first for a beautiful braided up-do.

Start by taking a section from the top to your left ear and do a waterfall braid. This is a basic braid-waterfall hybrid. Take a little piece of hair out of the bottom section of the braid as you go and leave it loose. Secure the end of the braid with a clear elastic. With the rest of your hair at the back, split it into three equal sections and do three regular braids.

Secure the ends of these with clear elastics. Dont forget to stretch all your braids out to really emphasise the shape of the braids. Take the centre braid at the back and twist it around and pin in place in a small bun. Repeat with the other two braids either side, pinning them in level braided buns on the back. Its best to do the middle braided bun first as this makes it easier to keep all three buns level.

This is a messy look style, so you can keep some tendrils loose or pin them all up in place. You can skip the waterfall braid part of this style and just do a regular braid instead. Clip one section out of the way while you do the first braid.

Starting on the right side, take a section and start to Dutch braid your hair full details of the Dutch braid are on page Instead of adding hair from both sides, just add in hair from the right of the braid. Angle your braid as close as possible to the part line so that its sitting almost right on the part.

Braid your hair following that part line diagonally. Finish in a regular braid and secure with a clear elastic. Repeat with the hair on the left hand side, taking hair into the braid only from the left side this time. Try and start the braids around the same point and angle them close together sitting right on the part line. Stretch the braids out and stretch them together. Tuck the ends of the braids under and pin in place.

Ive used some pins to make them sit as close as possible together and almost look like theyre joined. If your hair is long, you can pin them together to form one long braid or secure in a side ponytail and leave your hair loose.

You can also twist them up round to sit more behind your left ear to form a large braided bun. This style looks gorgeous in straight, wavy or curly hair. Start by making a deep side part on the right hand side. Take a small section at the start of the part and split it into three. Start the French braid here but only adding in hair from the right hand side.

Angle the braid right onto your face and in front of your hairline. You want the braid to sit grazing along the edge of your eyebrow, coming down the left side of your face. Keep adding in very small sections as you French braid until you reach around your cheekbone or jaw line.

Finish in a regular braid and secure with a small clear elastic. This looks great in straight or curly hair. Ive curled my hair with a large curling iron and brushed through to create these waves. This is also known as a lace braid and looks beautiful if you start with a centre part and mirror the braid on both sides around your face.

This is a fun style that will create a side sweep look, almost like an undercut. Start by making a deep side on the right side and clipping all your hair over to the other side. Make a second part in the middle of that smalller side section and do two small Dutch braids going around towards the back of your head.

When youre about one third of the way round with each Dutch braid, lift up all your hair and pin in place with a bobby pin across the back. I find by putting a bobby pin slightly diagonally into the braid helps to hold best.

Arrange your hair over the top so that the ends of the braids are hidden. Ive curled the ends of my hair here to give a softer wave. Start on top of your right ear and braid over your forehead all the way around to your left ear. Split the section into three and French braid, adding in hair from both your hairline and from the crown behind. I like to sit this braid about an inch back from the hairline so that I can have a little bit of height in the hair around my face thats added in.

As you reach around the back, keep following your hands round and keeping the tension there. Follow your hairline. By the time you reach the bottom right side of your neck, youll have added in all your hair. Stretch out the braid, tuck the end under and pin in place under the start of the braid behind your right ear. If your hair is very long, you can finish in a small bun underneath or start a double crown and pin in place around the top.

If you have shorter hair, by keeping the braid closer to the crown of your head, you should be able to make it all the way round without running out of hair or the braid falling out so easily. This braid looks complicated, but its just a French braid with hair going in from one side.

The trick is keeping the tension on the braid as you twist. Start on the left hand side and take a section and split it into three. Start to French braid but only adding in sections from the top. Try not to add in too much hair because you want to keep a similar thickness of hair as you go all the way down. Braid horizontally across from left to right. When you reach the back of your head, you want to take in one more section as you curve from the right. That section should be from just around your temple.

This section will be the furthest right of the braid you should be adding in hair from.

30 Days of Braids

Then as you start the curve the next piece you want to add in will be from the top of the braid again, as you can see from picture three. Its essential that you only add hair from the top. When you want to change direction, just start adding hair to the other side of the braid. Continue braiding horizontally back towards your left ear, from right to left.

Braids Hairstyles… Here we go!

Start the second curve when you reach level with where the braid starts above. The section you add from behind your left ear should be the furthest left you add hair in from. Continue braiding horizontally again now from left to right , still only adding in hair from the top. Add in all the rest of the hair until you braid in all the remaining hair at the bottom.

Finish in a regular braid and tuck the end under, pinning in place just under your right ear. If you add in smaller sections, I bet you could even do three or maybe even four turns in your hair. You could end in a side ponytail if your hair is very long.

Brush all your hair around forming a circle around the top of your head. Hopefully you wont have too much hair sitting on your face, but this will make it easier to braid evenly around. I like to start on the back right hand side as I find its easier to hide the join around this point.

Take a section from the top and split it into three. Start to braid underneath, forming a Dutch braid. Angle the braid flat against your head and towards your face. Add in sections from the top only as you keep braiding around towards your face.

Keep the tension in the sections as you add them in; this will help you position the braid as you go around. Keep braiding as you go around your forehead and then carry on until you reach the original starting point. To join the braid together, do a little section of a regular braid. Tuck the ends of this through where the starting point of the braid is. Pin in place. You can let the rest of your hair trail through and join back in underneath that braid too. Stretch the braid out to make it sit evenly.

You can use bobby pins to keep these tidy. Ive used a large one inch curling iron to add some waves into my hair for this style. Can you imagine how beautiful this would be with some flowers added in as a beautiful braided floral crown?

Brush before you braid is one of my key braiding tips but this is not always true for curly hair. Brushing removes knots and makes it easier to add in even sections, but the reverse can be true for curly hair. Run your fingers gently through your hair before you start to braid.

Add in larger sections to your braid to suit your curls. Curly hair normally doesnt have any problems starting in a braid. In fact its harder to remove braids. A light conditioner spray on the ends of your hair will help it stay smoother and reduce knots when you are removing the braid.

Customise to your curls Choose a style that suits the shape of your curls, and that enhances them. If your hair is curlier at the front, leave it loose and braid your hair up at the back. If your curl looks good out but gets messy at the front, try a fringe braid like Day 10 or Day Any of the 30 braids are suitable for curly hair.

Try them in your hair and adapt them to suit your curls. My pick of the best styles for curly hair are below. Top five braids for curly hair: Dont wish for thicker hair, embrace your fine locks. Think how much time you save washing and drying your hair.

Avoid multiple braids and stick to simpler styles. This is the biggest difference you will make to your braids. Small, tight braids can look childish.

Gently pull at the sides of your braids to loosen them and make them appear thicker and fuller. Try clip-in extensions. If there is a particular style you love but just wont work in your natural hair, try adding a little oomph with clip-in extensions.

Im wearing some in Day 19 for the fishtail braid as my hair isnt long enough to do this style. Build in structure with product. Use a volumising shampoo and a root boosting mousse in damp hair before you blow dry your hair.

This will add in extra volume to the finished look. Try dry shampoo to add texture to the midlengths of your hair. However, one limitation with immunofluorescence of silk is the inherent auto-fluorescence arising from the aromatic amino acids tyrosine, tryptophan ,26 as seen by the blue staining of silk fibres. Discussion To our knowledge, this is the first report on the development of a braided hierarchy, constituted of native non-regenerated non-mulberry silk fibres, as a potential scaffold for bone tissue engineering.

The braids fabricated in this study mitigate the lack of adequate osteoconductivity associated with regenerated silk scaffolds while avoiding the fabrication challenges associated with most tissue engineered scaffolds, as the dissolution of this variety of silk is a difficult task to achieve.

We extensively investigated the mechanics of this braided architecture of A. The suitability of A. Taken together, this data clearly indicates that said mechanical properties of the braid used here is favorable for implantation studies. Subsequently, we examined important aspects of cell-matrix interactions between human pre-osteoblasts and the A.

Nonmulberry Silk Braids Direct Terminal Osteocytic Differentiation

After analysing the cellular distribution profile on braided surface we found that osteoblasts were localised both within the pore spaces as well as also oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fibres. However, this hypothesis warrants in vivo investigations to provide a clearer picture on the mechanism of bone formation as a function of braided geometry. Moreover, the data demonstrates relatively high cell adhesion lesser than 2D petri dish and orientation of seeded osteoblasts in compliance with the surface chemistry and braid morphology.

However, the values depicted for cell attachment Table III include both initial adhesion of hFOBs on braids as well as proliferation upto 1 day, nevertheless, the fact that native silk fibroin consisting of a specific sequence of amino acids leads to enhanced cellular responses, alongwith other factors including surface roughness, rigidity, surface chemistry or all of these combined, remains true.

Another interesting revelation made by a recent study was that mechanical stiffness plays a crucial role in determining the fate of osteoprogenitors. However, it will be difficult to compare results as the material and cell line used are entirely different.

The gene expression data clearly demonstrate that A. The Ct copy number values reported are normalized to expression in 2D monolayer, cultured under similar conditions. As expected, gene expression of cell-laden braids cultured in the presence of pro-osteogenic factors increased, compared to that in A.Clip the rest of your hair back out of the way. If you have shorter hair, by doing two braids, the headband will be fuller and have a more even width across your head.

Finish the braid with a tiny clear elastic. Continue braiding horizontally again now from left to right , still only adding in hair from the top.